First, never collect a card number on a form
If you already take payment some other way, you can skip this part. A card field on a Google Form looks like an easy answer, and it isn't. Each answer lands in a spreadsheet that anyone with access can read, copy or download, and it stays there as long as the sheet does. The same goes for a card number sent by text or email, or written on a pad by the phone.
The rules follow the card number. The body that sets card security rules says a card number sent by email, text or chat must be protected under its requirements, along with the systems it touches. The three-digit code may not be kept after a payment is authorized, even if encrypted. If that sheet leaks, it is your customers' cards and your name on it.
The fix is simple: let a payment company handle the card. The customer types the number on its page, and you never see it.
Option 1: a form and a payment link
This costs almost nothing, and it is a fair way to start. The customer fills in a form with their meals, then pays through a link. A Stripe Payment Link had no extra fee on top of 2.9% + 30 cents per US card charge when we checked in November 2026. Square's rate on its free plan was 3.3% + 30 cents. Check both before you decide, because rates change.
The work is all on your side. You match each payment to each form answer, and you chase the ones that don't match. You close the form at cutoff, so set a reminder or check whether your form tool can close on a schedule. And you total the orders yourself.
Three habits make this run much more smoothly:
- Tell each customer what to pay. If every order costs the same, put the link in the message people see after they send the form. Google Forms calls this the confirmation message, so send yourself a test to check the link opens. If totals vary, one link can't know what each person ordered, so reply to each order with its total and the link to pay it.
- Ask for the email they will pay with. Matching a payment to an order is easier when both carry the same address.
- Keep a Paid column. Check it against your payments each day, and again at cutoff. Decide now whether an unpaid order gets cooked, and say so on the form.
Be careful with Venmo and Zelle
Plenty of small kitchens start here, because customers already have the apps. Read the terms first. Venmo's agreement says personal accounts generally may not be used for business transactions. Payments for goods must be marked as goods and services or go to a business profile, and regular recurring goods payments through Pay and Request are not allowed. The fee was 1.9% + 10 cents on a business profile when we checked, and 2.99% when a personal payment is marked as goods and services.
So if you take Venmo on a personal account today, there is a simple next step: set up a business profile, or move to a payment link. Either one puts you inside the rules, for a small fee.
Zelle says its payments can't be reversed, and it tells people to send money only to those they know and trust. That is a hard thing to ask of a new customer.
Option 2: a general online store
Shopify, Square Online and Squarespace give you a real storefront and handle cards properly. They were built for shops that are always open, so a weekly menu takes some working around.
- Shopify's Basic plan was $29 a month billed yearly, or $39 monthly. Its built-in delivery dates are estimates that the customer doesn't pick. So a chosen delivery day and a cutoff usually mean adding an app.
- Square Online has preorder settings with a cutoff per item, which is closer to how a weekly menu works.
- Squarespace subscriptions allow one subscription product per order and have no skip or pause, which is a hard fit for meal plans.
If your menu rarely changes and you are always open, a store can suit you well. With a weekly menu, you will still total your meals, portions and ingredients yourself, and you will update the store each week.
Option 3: software built for meal prep
This is the option that costs the most on paper. Tools like ours charge a monthly fee and usually a percent of each order, on top of card fees. What you pay for is the part the others leave to you: menus that open and close by themselves, totals for the kitchen, a shopping list, labels and meal plans, all from one set of orders.
So compare it with your hours as well as with a form's price. If totaling orders takes you ten minutes, stay on the form. If it takes your Thursday night, and you worry about getting it wrong, the math changes.
The Eat Fresh Tech way
Here's how you would take orders and keep cards safe.
Customers order from your menu on a site in your brand, and pay by card at checkout. You keep your own website if you have one, and link to ordering.
- Card numbers never touch your site. They go straight to Stripe, in your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays out to your bank. The site keeps only the card type, the last four digits, the expiry date and Stripe's reference.
- Your rules run while you cook. Menus close at cutoff, order minimums apply, and limited quantities stop you overselling.
- The orders are already totaled, with no sheet to clean up.
Stripe's fee applies to every charge, along with our usage fee. Our plans and usage fees are on the pricing page. You set your own tax rate, with a different rate per location or region where you need one.